…¿Por qué aprendes inglés? 6 motivos para aprender

There are so many reasons to learn English. We’ll talk about some common reasons to learn English but the important reason to learn English is…

Reason 1 You want to learn English.

If you do not want to learn English, it is very difficult to learn it! If English is required for your job and you don’t want to learn the language, you won’t learn. We have to want to learn. This is why we couldn’t learn very well in high school or university — we didn’t want to learn but we had to take the English language course. And how much do we remember from those classes? Little.

So, you want to learn English. Good! Congratulations! Learning English is developing the most important asset you have — yourself. It is an invaluable tool for business, for life and for the future.

Reason 2 English is used for international business.

English is and will continue to be the dominant language for international business. Colombia is developing its ability to export and import on an international stage. Bogota is preparing to be the 4th largest corporate tourism destination in Latin America and this will see an uptick or increase in the number of international conferences held here.

And soon Colombia will have the ability to freely trade with dozens of countries… and that will be a sea change or significant change in the need for english.

Obama and Santos know FTAs are coming to Colombia!

Did you know?Colombia has or is completing more than 15 free trade agreements with trading blocs such as the European Union (27 countries including France and Germany), USA (including states of California and New York which have GDP higher than most countries in the world), Canada, Carribbean countries (Belize, Jamaica and all of those former British and Dutch colonies), Free Countries of Europe (including Switzerland and oil rich Norway), South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Jordan and more. International business with these countries is done in English.

Reason 3 English is used for scientific thought.

English is used by business and by science around the world. If you want to access the largest pool of scientific thinking, you need to learn English.

Reason 4 English is used for international standards.

International standards are written in English. For example, Colombia is adopting the international accounting standards (IFRS) which not surpringingly uses English. Accountants will need to understand and use English.

Reason 5 Use English for traveling.

English improves your traveling experience

Whether going to Europe and the UK, the US, India or Asia… some ability in English will make your experience richer and more entertaining.

It is true that you can visit the US without speaking English in parts of California, New York City and Miami… as a traveler you are missing out on the rest of the beauty and the experience of the United States.

Reason 6 Improve your Spanish.

Strange as it is to say… learning a second language improves your mother tongue and your precision in expressing ideas. The same idea is expressed differently with different metaphors and images. You also learn more about Spanish by reviewing tenses, prepositions, vocabulary and other parts of speech you use daily without thinking about them.

In our series ‘common errores for Spanish speakers in English’ we have come across native Spanish speakers that are used to using one verb in Spanish esperar for 3 different meanings but in English we have 3 different verbs for these meanings. En nuestra serie de ‘errores comunes de español hablantes’ encontramos este problema de esperar. […]

You want to call attention to your business, right? Well, maybe. We’re going to look at the habit of bad leaders that can cause problems for themselves and their companies.

See the other articles in the series on leader isolation and behavior choices. Bad habit source material comes from Eric Jackson’s excellent Fobes article.

Bad habit #5: Leaders are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image

Warning Sign: Blatant attention-seeking

Habit 5 vocabulary: To be consummate is to be very skilled or perfect.

Company image or public image is how the company is percieved by the public or by others.

Being obsessed is having a obsession o preocuppation with something. An obsession dominates and strongly influences one’s thoughts, feelings and desires.

Bad attention-seeking behavior

A blatant action is a deliberate action or done on purpose.

Attention-seeking behavior is acting in a way such as that calls attention to oneself.

Habit 5 idea: The idea is that these leaders are very skilled or perfect at public interaction. While this is good but they also are excessively preoccupied (obsessed) and spend less time on real problems and more time on what people think.

Sometimes attention-seeking causes a negative public image

The warning sign of this habit can itself be a problem. Attention-seeking behavior distracts from the business and its goals. Though leaders want good public image, the opposite sometimes results from attention-seeking behavior!

Former President Uribe has recieved criticism for his attention-seeking tweets and political endorsements. He seems obsessed with the image of his presidency. This attention seeking behavior has actually hurt his public image according to some.

Vocabulary: To isolate is to reduce or elimate the connections to something. The idea of isolating or isolation is not always bad. Isolation is good when you need to think without distraction tempoarily. But permanent isolation is bad. Would you want to be isolated from your friends and family forever?

The face of a ruthless man from TV Series Breaking Bad

Acting ruthlessly is acting coldly or without caring about others. Sometimes we say someone ruthless is ‘cutthroat.’ The TV series Breaking Bad, a great series to practice your listening, featured several characters acting coldly or ruthlessly.

If you are not behind someone or something, you do not support or agree with them. For example, President Santos is not behind Hugo Chavez but he is behind the legalization of marijuana. (Seriously, read about it here.)

When you don't listen, you are on your own

Habit 3, the idea: If leaders think they have all the answers they do not listen to others. Maybe they hear what others say but stubbornly disagree because they believe they are right. We call this a ‘know it all‘. Who wants to be around that type of person? They isolate themselves unintentionally or without wanting or intending to.

Habit 4, the idea: Leaders that eliminate anyone that disagrees with them do not want internal opposition. They want people that agree with them. So they make people leave by firing them or forcing them to quit. Clearly habit 4 is an intentional habit of someone that wants to isolate themselves.

Bush Was Slow... to Recognize Mistakes

These type of leaders show up in politics. Often political leaders remove dissenting or disagreeing opinions from their ‘inner circle‘ or small group of trusted advisors and supporters. The problem with removing dissenting opinions is that one only surrounds themself with ‘yes men‘ or people that never disagree. You don’t get good feedback and you become slow to recognize mistakes.

Learning English in isolation or without good feedback is a slow way to learn a language. Find yourself a good institute with great teachers like Bogota Business English.

To be behind alguien o to be behindalgo, significa que respaldas a la persona o estás de acuerdo con algo. Por ejemplo, President Santos is not behind Hugo Chavez but he is behind the legalization of marijuana. Santos no respalda a Hugo Chavez pero está de acuerdo con la legalización de marijuna. (En serio, leer más.)